Morning Prayer: Thursday 8 January 2026

Thursday 8 January 2026

This is the new revised order for Daily Prayer authorised for experimental use. You can find the 2006 Revised version here.

Thursday after Second Sunday after Christmas
Christmas and Epiphany

Thursday after Second Sunday after Christmas

O Lord, open our lips:
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Glory be to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever. Amen.
Amen.

PSALMODY

Antiphon: Your justice Lord dawns like morning light;* its dawning is as sure as the sunrise. Hosea 6.3

Opening

Come, let us sing

1 Come, let us sing to the Lord; *
let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before the presence of the Lord with thanksgiving *
and raise a loud shout to God with psalms.
3 For you, O Lord, are a great God, * and a great sovereign above all gods.
4 In your hand are the caverns of the earth, * and the heights of the hills are yours also.
5 The sea is yours, for you made it, *
and your hands have moulded the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, * and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For you are our God, and we are the people of your pasture and the sheep of your hand. *
Oh, that today we would hearken to your voice!
8 “Harden not your hearts, *
as your forebears did in the wilderness.
9 They put me to the test, * though they had seen my works.
10 So I swore in my wrath, *
‘They shall not enter into my rest.’”

Glory ...
or a suitable Hymn

(Or from Psalm 85)

1. I will listen to what you, Lord God, are saying, *
for you are speaking peace to your faithful people and to
those who turn their hearts to you.
2. Truly, your salvation is very near to those who fear you,
that your glory may dwell in our land.
3. Mercy and truth have met together; *
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
4. Truth shall spring up from the earth,
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Glory ...
or a suitable hymn

Psalm 22
1. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me *
and are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress?
2. O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer;*
by night as well, but I find no rest.
3. Yet you are the Holy One, * enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
4. Our ancestors put their trust in you; * they trusted, and you delivered them.
5. They cried out to you and were delivered; * they trusted in you and were not put to shame.
6. But as for me, I am a worm and not human, * scorned by all and despised by the people.
7. All who see me laugh me to scorn; *
they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying,
8. “You trusted in the Lord; let the Lord deliver you; * let God rescue you, if God delights in you.”
9. Yet you are the one who took me out of the womb, * and kept me safe upon my mother’s breast.
10. I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born; * you were my God when I was still in my mother’s womb.
11. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, * and there is none to help.
12. Many young bulls encircle me; * strong bulls of Bashan surround me.
13. They open wide their jaws at me, * like a ravening and a roaring lion.
14. I am poured out like water; all my bones are out of joint; *
my heart within my breast is melting wax.
15. My mouth is dried out like a potsherd; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; *
and you have laid me in the dust of the grave.
16. Packs of dogs close me in and gangs of evildoers circle around me; *
they pierce my hands and my feet.
17. I can count all my bones *
while they stare and gloat over me.
18. They divide my garments among them; * they cast lots for my clothing.
19. Be not far away, O Lord; *
you are my strength; hasten to help me.
20. Save me from the sword, *
my life from the power of the dog.
21. Save me from the lion’s mouth, *
my wretched body from the horns of wild bulls.
22. I will declare your name to my kindred; *
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.
23. Praise the Lord, you that fear God; *
stand in awe of God, O offspring of Israel; all you of Jacob’s line, give glory.
24. For God does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty; neither turns away from them; *
when they cry to the Lord, they are heard.
25. My praise is of God in the great assembly; *
I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship the Lord.
26. The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the Lord shall give praise: *
“May your heart live for ever!”
27. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, *
and all the families of the nations shall bow before God.
28. For sovereignty belongs to the Lord, * who rules over the nations.
29. To God alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; *
all who go down to the dust fall before God
30. My soul shall live for God; my descendants shall serve God; *
they shall be known as the Lord’s for ever.
31. They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn *
the saving deeds that God has done.

Glory ...


Conclusion

Isaiah 60

1. Arise, shine, for your light has come,*
the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2. For behold darkness shall cover the earth,*
thick darkness the peoples;
3. but the Lord will arise upon you;*
God’s glory will be seen upon you.
4. Nations shall come to your light;*
kings to the brightness of your rising.
5. The sun shall be no more your light by day;*
nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night;
6. but the Lord will be your everlasting light,*
your God will be your glory.

Glory ...

Antiphon: Your justice Lord dawns like morning light;* its dawning is as sure as the sunrise.

READING(S)

Exodus 17.1-7

From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarrelled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’ So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’

Colossians 1.15-23

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

Silence

Response (Psalm 119.130)

When your word goes forth it gives light.
When your word goes forth it gives light.
It gives understanding to the simple.
It gives light.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
When your word goes forth it gives light.

SONG OF ZECHARIAH

Song of Zechariah Antiphon: Glory to Christ* * who is preached among the nations and believed on in the world.

1 Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel,* for he has come to his people and set them free.
2 He has raised up for us a mighty saviour,* born of the house of his servant David.
3 Through his holy prophets he promised of old* that he would save us from our enemies, from the hands of all that hate us.
4 He promised to show mercy to our forebears,* and to remember his holy covenant.
5 This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:* to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
6 free to worship him without fear,* holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
7 You my child shall be called the prophet of the Most High,* for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
8 to give his people knowledge of salvation* by the forgiveness of all their sins.
9 In the tender compassion of our God* the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
10 to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,* and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory ... (may be said by all)

Song of Zechariah Antiphon: Glory to Christ* * who is preached among the nations and believed on in the world.

PRAYERS

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Do not bring us to the time of trial,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever.

Amen



Collect of the Day

O God,
whose blessed Son,
Jesus Christ, was made human,
that we might become your children:
grant that we,
being made partakers of his divine nature,
may be shaped in his likeness;
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.
Amen

God most holy, we give you thanks for bringing us out of the shadow of night into the light of morning; and we ask you for the joy of spending this day in your service, so that when evening comes, we may once more give you thanks, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.
Amen

Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God!

The Lord bless us and preserve us from all evil;
and bring us to life eternal.
Amen.